This match saw us on the March stretch which I had not fished before due to missing the first match because of work commitments. After the 2 hour journey down to the venue and a McDonalds on the way it wasn't long before we got there safe and sound to be met by a slightly coloured river with a slightly cold conditions. After having a look at the stretch we were going to fish and getting some advice on where the fish tend to show I wanted to be in the middle section or the end section further up the stretch.
With the team all sorted in went my hand to draw for the team picking 2 good pegs for the other lads and me picking out peg 2 within the first section (not where I wanted to be but that's fishing make the most of the peg and see what it throws up)
On getting to my peg which was right at the beginning of the section so a nice short walk with my kit I settled down to see where I was going to fish.
With punched crumb being a safe bet on this venue and with slight colour in the water I planned to set up a punch line 5 meters out to the left and ground bait line 10 meters out to the front another punch line 10 meters out to the right and a 13 meter hemp line just slightly right of my 10 meter line.
Plan was to start on the inside left line on the punch and then rotate through my lines should the fish back off.
My set up for my punch line was a Sackup Aqua float 4x14 to a 0.10mm main line and a 6 inch 0.08mm hook length matches to a size 20 B511 hook a set up that I have full confidence in, the shotting was a bulk half a foot from where the hook length and the main line met followed by 2 droppers. I am a firm believer in keeping the shooting pattern positive as I wanted the bait to get down to the bottom where the bigger stamp of fish will be, this was matched to a Browning Cenex solid number 4 elastic. This set up would also be the same for the right hand side punch line at 10 meters.
My ground bait line at 10 metres straight out consisted of a Sackup Aqua 4x14 to a 0.10mm mainline and a 0.08mm hook length with a size 20 B511 hook. For the shotting pattern I went for a shirt button style pattern so the hook bait had a slower fall through the water. Elastic of choice was a Browning Cenex solid number 5.
Last line I had to set up was my hemp line witch was at 13 meters. A size 5 elastic was again my preferred elastic set to a 0.10mm main line and a 0.08mm hook length to a size 18 B511. For my shotting pattern this was spread out across the line to give a more slower natural fall of the bait.
Looking back at my set ups for each line I am a firm believer of keeping things as simple as possible hence the main line and hook lengths all being of the same diameters as well as the hooks which I believe are a good all rounder for this type of fishing should I need to ring the changes within the match I have a starting point to start from.
With the all in being called it was off to work feeding my lines, both punch lines were fed with a big ball of punched crumb with a little aquarium gravel added to get it down to the bottom. My hemp line was feed with 250ml of hemp with the plan of going over it every half hour to see if the roach had turned onto it. If they had then it would be a matter of catching as many off this line as possible due to the roach normally being a better stamp.My ground bait line was fed with 3 balls with one containing a pinch of pinkie.
With me starting on my punch line at 5 meters and spending a good half hour on with only a few bites it was time to move around my swims to see if the fish had settled on one of my other line. With a full rotation complete and only a few bites this was going to be a hard match and one where I was going to have to ring a few changes. First change was to alter the depth of my ground bait rig and come up of the deck 2 inches at a time to see if the fish were off the bottom this brought a few small fish to the net but nothing that was going to get me in a rhythm to put a good bag of fish together. With over half the match left which was proving difficult and both anglers catching to my left I knew I was going to have to get the fish feeding one way or another.
Having spent most of the match being very cautious with feeding I decided to go all out and feed my punch line 10 meters out to my right with 2 big balls of punched crumb and then come 5 inch of the bottom. This proved to be the right choice as the float buried time and time again with a steady run of fish coming to the net for the last hour. Having spent most of the match going in cautiously over my swims and persistently trying to get my hemp line working I had now managed to put at least a kilo in the net in the last hour which was a sigh of relief and more to do with damage limitation with placing within the section and getting a few points.
With the all out being called I knew I had blown the section but felt I had done enough to come at least 3rd in the section. With the weigh in starting at the top end of the stretch it was clear that's where the fish were with the top ends pegs weighing in just over 5 and 4 kilos. As we moved further down the stretch the weights became less and less however with most anglers having well over a kilo of fish each. With me weighing in I put 1 kilo 300 odd grams on the scale for 3rd in section and what might prove to be a valuable 3 points and a let off for not reading the signs and fishing in a more positive manner.
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